Although still relatively new to the photography world, Micro Four Thirds systems are becoming an increasingly popular choice for those looking for a lightweight, compact, yet professional camera.
Yet many people still know very little about Micro Four Thirds lenses. In this post, we’ll answer some of the most popular FAQs and provide our personal lens recommendations for your mirrorless camera.
What is Micro Four Thirds?
To begin, let’s get back to basics. Micro Four Thirds isn’t a brand; it’s a type of lens and sensor system, typically designed to work with Olympus and Panasonic Compact System Cameras.
Unlike full frame DSLR lenses, Micro Four Thirds lenses are incredibly lightweight, thanks to their more compact sensor size and the shorter distance between the sensor and the back of the lens.
Micro Four Thirds vs Full Frame Lenses
It’s worth noting that Micro Four Thirds lenses operate in a slightly different way to full frame lenses so that the focal lengths for Micro 4/3 lenses are not actually equivalent to full frame sensors.
Micro Four Thirds sensors are more compact than DSLRs or even other non-micro 4/3 mirrorless cameras. So, Micro Four Thirds sensors show narrower views of a scene than full frame sensors. This means you get half the diagonal view of a full frame sensor.
Simply halve the full frame lens focal length to get its Micro Four Thirds equivalent.
Are Micro Four Thirds Lenses Interchangeable?
Most Micro Four Thirds lenses are made by either Olympus or Panasonic and are guaranteed to be interchangeable. An Olympus lens will work on a Panasonic camera, and vice versa. But it’s not as simple as this.
Panasonic and Olympus mirrorless cameras operate in slightly different ways; Olympus builds its image stabilization into the camera body, while Panasonic generally builds it into the lens.
This means Olympus lenses typically come without image stabilization – a feature you’ll probably want for Panasonic cameras. In addition, Olympus cameras are not built to work with lens-based stabilization, so you’ll need to disable either the lens or camera stabilization if you’re using a Panasonic lens with an Olympus camera.
Must-Have Micro Four Thirds Lenses
These days, you have plenty of options when it comes to Micro Four Thirds lenses. You have your choice of small and affordable prime lenses to good quality zooms, and much more.
Below, we’ve listed some of the best Micro Four Thirds lenses to add to your collection.
Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 II ASPH Pancake Lens
This Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 pancake prime lens is incredibly compact, making it one of the most popular Micro Four Thirds lens options.
It produces a good field of view that closely replicates human vision. This lens is fast with a wide maximum aperture that admits more light for faster, sharper shots – great for indoors or night photography. It’s also fantastic for creating narrow depths of field to produce satisfying background blur or bokeh.
Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R Telephoto Lens
The Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm Telephoto lens is a highly precise, razor sharp lens with the full frame equivalent of 80-300mm. The superb image quality for such a compact lens is exceptional and covers a wide variety of short-to-long telephoto applications. With a long zoom range in a featherweight package, you'll want to carry this lens with you everywhere.
Panasonic users might prefer to go for the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 to ensure they have image stabilization.
Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Portrait Lens
This Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 portrait lens features an aspherical element in the optical design to help control chromatic aberrations and distortions. In essence, you’ll get much clearer pictures and on-point colouring. It offers the equivalent of an 85mm full frame focal length.
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 Silver Portrait Lens
This Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 lens is a large aperture telephoto lens featuring movie and still focusing technology, designed for tracking fast moving objects with precision. This lens also really helps to magnify the details in smaller objects, ensuring fantastic close-ups and magnifications.
Browse through our range of Micro Four Thirds lenses for your mirrorless camera and start experimenting with different photography styles today.
